The Census counts people where they were located on Census Night and this count of the population is referred to as the place of enumeration count. A count of the population based on their place of usual residence is also available. Place of usual residence is derived from questions on the Census form. In previous Censuses, many of the Census products presented data on a place of enumeration basis. For the 2006 Census, the focus will be on place of usual residence.

Census counts by place of enumeration:

include overseas visitors for Age (AGEP), Sex (SEXP) and Registered Marital Status (MSTP);

exclude overseas visitors for all other person variables; and

exclude Australian residents temporarily overseas.

Census counts by place of usual residence:

exclude overseas visitors

exclude Australian residents temporarily overseas.

Prior to the 2001 Census, data based on place of usual residence were available for SLAs and above. However, since the 2001 Census, usual residence data have been coded to the Collection District (CD) level. This means that usual residence counts can be produced on request, at CD level and for CD-derived areas such as Postal Areas and suburbs.

The variables Family Composition (FMCF) and Household Composition (HHCD) are coded on a place of usual residence basis rather than a place of enumeration basis. All visitors to dwellings are excluded when coding these variables. Usual residents who are reported as 'temporarily absent' are included in the coding of Family Composition (FMCF).

Estimated Resident Population: Estimates of the resident population for 30 June 2006 are based on the 2006 Census counts by place of usual residence.

While every effort is made to achieve a complete Census count, some undercounting inevitably occurs for various reasons, for example, the inadvertent omission of very young children, treatment of some dwellings as unoccupied when in fact they are occupied, and failure to find all dwellings. Refusal by householders to complete the Census form is not a significant cause of undercounting.